Article: The Wild Don't Need To Break Up Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, and Boldy To Fix Their Second Line

[Tony Abbott]

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[Dean]

Anything to put Fred in press box. I like Russo s idea of buying out Jo Jo and using that 1.3 million towards a free agent . Like the athletic wrote  . What is the vision to make the wild a contender. There isn’t. They have mushy middle replacements for the mushy middle vets we’ve acquired for 20 + years . Not to mention a tiny d core with a broken down captain.  I’m for trading Gus for something good but to think a kid an a 40 year old goalie are going to make it through a season is sketchy at best. Playoff’s. I don’t see it. It’ll be another clown show and kappy will walk . 

[Citizen Strife]

Less said about the 2nd line, but what about 4th liners Lucchini and Letteri?  Having them out of the lineup and having Khusnutdinov and Hartman/Foligno/Gaudreau/Johansson "should" make for a more stable and effective depth situation.  

Whatever the Wild decide to do, as long as they done have fringe NHL talent taking up 5-10 game stretches, it should be a net positive.

Oh, and before anyone asks, do NOT break up that top line.  Just don't.  Don't want to hear the tired "Ek isn't a 1C" bullshit anymore.  He's their BEST center, and the best center goes on Line 1, until someone proves they are better. Rossi is good right now, but not Ek good.

[Protec]

Johansson has really let us down again. 30 points is fine if he wasn’t brutal on defense. He truly is like Rask 2.0 except they'd at least bench Rask. NoJo might cost less but he's just blocking a roster spot from a better player.

[Will D. Ness]

Rossi-Foligno-Ohgren is intriguing to me although Hoos Nut might do well there too as 3C.

 

[Citizen Strife]

19 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

Rossi-Foligno-Ohgren is intriguing to me although Hoos Nut might do well there too as 3C.

 

Thing is, you could makeshift a lot of different combinations that could probably work.  Rossi has that offensive punch that Khusnutdinov didn't have yet.  Hartman proved a capable hand himself, getting near or at 20 goals while bouncing around the lineup like a ping pong ball.  It's worth seeing if Heidt is suited for 2nd or 3rd line work right away (Rossi had to work a few games on 3rd, and was pretty dang good at shutting down lines and scoring both when Foligno wasn't hurt).  Heidt being on 3rd with a Hartman, Ohgren, or Foligno wouldn't be some sort of indictment.  Khusnutdinov seems like a shoo-in for bottom-6/PK.  That's totally fine.  Dewar and Shaw (probably) are gone, so someone has to do it.

Edited June 6 by Citizen Strife

[OldDutchChip]

Ohgren and Kusty, Heidt and every other prospect is unknown at this point, and to rely that much on these prospects is foolish

additionally, zuccy cannot drive a line at his age, speed will deteriorate and without PP time, his point total will likely be capped in the 30s with linemates you propose. Him and Rossi are also too tiny to make up line 2 and that won’t change even if you add that moron Perron. (I hate him as a player, but maybe it’s a good thing??)

First line needs to be kept in tact only to some degree. Ek or Boldy needs to drop down (may even need to drop both if below materializes)

Best thing to drop Boldy and replace him w Guentzel (Billy I’ll be at Beauty league in next month and can talk to him on your behalf!) You can then get creative at the draft and dangle Rossi, Yurov, Heidt (2 of 3, let Ottawa pick) and picks and ship them out to Ottawa WITH spurge (a must) for Tkachuk 

then you get your top libes

 kap tkachuk guentz 

EK Boldy Zuccy

 foligno Harty ohgren

Brilliant! ODC for GM 

 

 

[Burnt Toast]

What I’m taking out of this article including comments is almost any combination of forwards has gotta be better than last year’s train wreck. Ok Tony now fix the defense. 

[Tony Abbott]

1 hour ago, Burnt Toast said:

What I’m taking out of this article including comments is almost any combination of forwards has gotta be better than last year’s train wreck. Ok Tony now fix the defense. 

Trade for Jakob Chychrun and let me draw a paycheck as a consultant.

[Tony Abbott]

ODC wants to ship out, like 5-6 points in the standings and the highest-scoring 20-year-old in KHL history, that's pretty bold.

[FredJohnson]

Kaprizov - Eriksson Ek - Boldy
Rossi - FA - Zuccarello
Foligno - Hartmann - Öhgren

Frauddie/Nutty/?

NoJo on the 4th or in the press box PLEASE.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

9 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

ODC wants to ship out, like 5-6 points in the standings and the highest-scoring 20-year-old in KHL history, that's pretty bold.

The forwards look exciting, but the back end could certainly keep them near the bottom of the PK rankings and goals allowed. If you go all-in this season and the chemistry doesn't work out, leading to missing the playoffs or a quick 1st round ousting, that's probably a more likely scenario for Kaprizov to walk away, the one thing ODC seems to be worried about the most.

I might be more inclined to help the defense and goaltending climb towards top 10 so that Kaprizov and Boldy scoring goals would be meaningful in the standings, not just high-scoring losses.

I think it's fine to keep the top line together, but I wouldn't hesitate to tinker with the lines and optimize 2 higher scoring lines like Evason had been doing. Boldy should be able to have a high scoring line without needing KK97.

No idea how the lines might look until we see how Guerin uses the available cap space, or whether he trades some assets.

[Citizen Strife]

"Boldy should be able to have a high scoring line without needing KK97."

That's the thing: he SHOULD be, but Boldy seems streaky without a higher end winger on the other side.  Kaprizov and Ek don't seem to give a shit who they are paired with, but Boldy shines with a running buddy that can do their own finishing.

The thing is: Boldy with Kap forces Kap from his weird pass party habit he kept having with Zuccarello.  So you're solving two issues by keeping them together.

Edited June 7 by Citizen Strife

[NC Beach Bum]

Will Marat be a rookie next season? I don't know the rules on how many games played previous season.

[Citizen Strife]

Khusnutdinov played 16 games, so he'll be considered a rookie (<25 games).

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

I think Rossi could be productive on the third line, but I far prefer Zucc getting bumped down. His defense was lackluster and he has many giveaways. He would fit well in a scoring touch for the third line. Rossi plays a pretty hard nosed game, he gets to the dirty areas and is only going to get more study after this offseason. Ohgren is a prototypical power forward that like to play a rough and tumble game while being defensively responsible. If Heidt is ready, I would love to see a Heidt Rossi Ohgren line as our second. They would be young and make mistakes but I think they would also drive play and do well defensively. Ohgren is a shooter, and Rossi is very much turning into one. Heidt will play set up man for these two with Rossi chasing the forecheck. 

For the third we either go Foligno - Khus- Zucc or Foligno - Hartman - Zucc. I think Khus would do really well playing forth line in place of one of the Deweys and Luch playing the place of the other. 

The only people that don't fit on this team are the two we need to jettison. Gaudreau and Nojo.

[WIWild]

Not a NoJo fan, but it will be interesting to see what he does this year. Last season, when he first joined us (for his 2nd tour) it was a contract year, and he had a positive impact, enough to get noticed and renewed. This season was all about the cardio, except when he played teams he had previously played for - then he was lighting the lamp. Now that he's entered another contract year, which NoJo will we see? It seems that NoJo is his default, but a motivated NoJo becomes MoJo?

Also wondering/hoping Freddy never recovered this season from that Reavo hit, and he'll rebound quite a bit this year. Also not a huge Freddy fan, but sure cheered for him when he was the GOAT of penalty shots.

[mnfaninnc]

16 hours ago, Dean said:

I like Russo s idea of buying out Jo Jo and using that 1.3 million towards a free agent .

I don't like this idea. I'm not opposed to Johansson not being on the team, however, buying him out is dumb. Just eat the money this year. Sending him to the A frees up about $1.1m to fill with an ELC contract. Don't buy him out, just bury him. He would be put on waivers if he doesn't waive his NTC. He could go to anyone, then. Odds are, he'll waive and Guerin can send him where he wants to go. That takes out the full $2m, and, for what we got last year, that's about what you get for a $2m player. The fault of Johansson wasn't on his contract, it was on his lineup distribution. He was being paid like a low level 3rd line player, upper level 4th line player. Yet, his time distribution was that of a 2nd liner. 

[mnfaninnc]

13 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

You can then get creative at the draft and dangle Rossi, Yurov, Heidt (2 of 3, let Ottawa pick) and picks and ship them out to Ottawa WITH spurge (a must) for Tkachuk 

I like your thinking of picking up Tkachuk, but look at the Ottawa roster. While Spurgeon would probably help their porous defense, look at their defensive contracts. Adding Spurgeon would throw that way out of balance for them. You can't have 3 guys making $7+m on defense and a couple of others in the $4+m range.

[mnfaninnc]

10 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

ODC wants to ship out, like 5-6 points in the standings and the highest-scoring 20-year-old in KHL history, that's pretty bold.

Yes, it is bold, but if it gets the job done, it will help us. I simply don't see a way that Spurgeon heads to Ottawa. 1) Ottawa has too many high dollar defenders, 2) Ottawa is likely on Spurgeon's no trade list.

[mnfaninnc]

53 minutes ago, NC Beach Bum said:

Will Marat be a rookie next season? I don't know the rules on how many games played previous season.

Yes, he needed to play 25 games or more. He played about the same number as Rossi did 2 seasons ago.

[mnfaninnc]

28 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

The only people that don't fit on this team are the two we need to jettison. Gaudreau and Nojo.

Luckily, both can be stashed in the A.

[mnfaninnc]

I do like Tony's plan of keeping the 3 top line guys together. It is really up to the other guys, especially the younger guys, to step up. 

In this, though, we need to have a real conversation about Zuccarello and him being in the top 6. Zuccarello put up a lot of points last season, but you could also see him winding down. He is a good guy to elevate when needed, but let's face facts, he should be on the bottom 6 and have a more limited ice time role. 

I did not like his constant perimeter play. I did not like his coughing up turnovers (and for facts, I didn't like it from Kaprizov and Boldy either). I did not like him having trouble covering as F3. I did not like his lack of speed. 

What can Zuccarello do well? He can play an important role on the PP. He's kind of a specialist in that regard. He was also an important mentor for Kaprizov getting him acclimated to the country and could do something similar for Dino and Yurov. Making them better could be worth a roster spot. I know he has an NMC, but at the TDL, I think we should check in with him too. 

Let's all remember, Zuccarello, Hartman, Foligno, Gaudreau, Johansson were all resigned while Evason was coach. Chances are that Heinzy will use these players differently and they may not like their new roles. That would make their iron clad clauses a little shaky. Yes, they couldn't just be jettisoned, but if you could find them another place to play, that might be best for all.

I don't know how many of you saw it, but there were several occasions when Dino geared down last season. He didn't want to hit that next gear with no teammate support, and he was very conscious of being there defensively. This is typical of a responsible player who is new. Dino's got another gear and needs someone to go with him. Currently, he and Ohgren had good chemistry, but only Johansson has the speed to keep up with him. I'm hoping this season, we see more of an unleashed Dino showcase that speed.

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

Khusnutdinov played 16 games, so he'll be considered a rookie (<25 games).

I'm expecting Hooz Nut's (it's a play on Deez Nuts) to make a stair step improvement after his cup of coffee last year.  I think it was an eye opener for him compared to the KHL and I liked his gumption.  I'm hopeful that he becomes the Wild's RAT (can't spell Marat without RAT) for the future and he excels at forechecking, creating loose pucks and pissing off the opponent.

Edited June 7 by Pewterschmidt

[Pewterschmidt]

55 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

but I far prefer Zucc getting bumped down

Zucc - 97 = the player we saw before 97 arrived, which is to say next to nothing.  A smaller, slower Nojo.

Edited June 7 by Pewterschmidt